Colour photo-biography on Gandhiji hits market

Sunday, Nov 6, 2016,12:04 ISTBy Metrovaartha AAA

Mumbai | The first-ever colour photo-biography on Mahatma Gandhi, chronicling his life and time and containing rare photos, has come out in the market, generating a great deal of interest among scholars and historians writing about the Father of the Nation.

Compiled and published by GandhiServe India, the local chapter of Germany-based GandhiServe Foundation, this king- size biography, “Mahatma Gandhi’s Life in Colour”, contains 1,281 photographs across 692 pages and weighs around 6.5kg.
The biography, priced at Rs 7,500, is available at selected distributors, including some in Mumbai.

The photo-biography was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the ocassion of Gandhi Jayanti this year.

“It is an interdisciplinary project in which black and white photographs were turned into the colour images. Missing colours were added according to historical settings, making it a valuable document,” said Tulsidas Somaiya, Managing Trustee of the Gandhi Book Centre, run by Bombay Sarvoday Mandal.

Gandhi Book Centre, the main distributor of the book, and the trust had been engaged in organising programmes to spread message of Gandhiji by holding seminars, workshops, meetings and youth camps.

Somaiya said, “Gandhi followers, not only from India but other countries like the USA and the UK, have shown great interest in the photo-biography which covers topics like truth and God, non-violence, religion and ethics, brahmcharya, non- cooperation, fasting, civic disobedience, prison life, swaraj, Ramrajya, independence, Harijans, untouchability and pacifism, among others.”

Terming the book a result of extensive research and technical advancement, GandhiServe India Director Jayan Mitra said, “Gandhi scholars, historians, photo experts and graphic designers joined hands to turn black and white photos into colourful images.

After scanning, all photographs were cleaned digitally and coloured by skilled Indian hands.” “While doing this, our intention was not to manipulate or adulterate pictures but to bring them closer to colourful images,” Mitra said, adding the biography can be bought online or from Amazon, an e-marketplace.